So Many Books, So Little Time!

My head is positively spinning lately with all of the good books that I am either reading, have queued on my nightstand table or want to get from the library. Unfortunately, my reading time is infrequent and short due to, well - you all know - I have a toddler! And if I do have time to do something other than play with him, clean the house, cook a meal, do the laundry, run the errands, etc., I usually choose my knitting because it seems nicer to sit and knit while Jackson plays than to bury my head in a book and ignore him completely. I have no idea how those of you with regular "book reports" on your blogs do it. (I do make a valiant attempt to push through a chapter or two before bed most nights, but...yeah...right...it's usually more like a few pages and then I'm asleep.)

This is why I was so thrilled that my friend pointed out this wonderful little doohickey at Shepherd's Harvest for managing reading AND knitting at the same time! I still have to do a lot of monkey-business to get it to work right and prop the book up, etc., but I actually read the first couple of chapters of a book last night WHILE knitting the colorwork on Jackson's sweater. Score!
And I want to talk about all of these books with you - why I love them so much, why I think you all should read them too, why some of them can change our world - but they're all too jumbled in my head to separate them right now. I like lists, so I'm going to list them out instead. Maybe seeing the list will make me realize that my reading is a little unrealistic these days and that I need to whittle it down...

Currently holding bookmarks:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity and Courage in a World Gone Mad by Frances Moore Lappe
Baking with the St. Paul Bread Club: Recipes, Tips and Stories by Kim Ode
Breadtime: A Down-to-Earth Cookbook for Bakers and Bread Lovers by Susan Jane Cheney

In Queue:
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen by Anna Lappe and Bryant Terry
Bread by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno
Don't Throw It, Grow It!: 68 Windowsill Plants from Kitchen Scraps by Deborah Peterson
The [VBAC] Experience: Birth Stories by Parents and Professionals by Lynn Bapti Richards
The Discipline Book by Dr. Sears

(Gee, I guess it's not hard to tell that I'm a crunchy organic momma who wants to change the world and eat good food at the same time?)

I only own four of these books. Six are from the library and most have waiting lists so I can't renew them. I'm so screwed. (One is on loan from a friend.)

And since I'm being completely honest with my reading backlog, I should add Inkspell by Cornelia Funke to the list - the ONE fictional book I currently have going. I love this series (the third comes out this spring, I believe?) so I have no idea why my bookmark has been in this book since 2005. Yes, that's right, 2005. Each time I think I'm just not going to finish it, I pick it up and fall in for a few chapters but then it just gets dusty on the nightstand again. Dan has read it in the meantime and is currently reading the third in German (ahead of the English release date). I was the one who turned him on to the magical Inkworld of Cornelia Funke to begin with and he's going to finish it first! Ack!

Someday I'll tell you what I think about these books. But for now, please feel free to do your own book reports on these titles rather than holding your breath for mine!
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Tomorrow's the last day for entering my Tree Contest! Take a look and let me know what you think. We're definitely still taking opinions on the tree question and even have bookmarks in various tree field guides and catalogs around the house too. So many topics to learn about this spring!